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WJC: 2022 Team USA Roster Talk

There's a tendency to declare teams like this one without superstar / flashy talent as weak but I'm not sure I agree with it. We've had plenty of WJC teams littered with superstar talent who crashed and burned despite being ballyhooed by all of us, USAH fans or not.

There's no doubt the forward group lacks a guy likely to carry the team a la Zegras but there's good depth and balance available, even if scoring will be more by committee. The defense should be incredibly strong and deep and the clear strength of the team and tournament. The biggest concern is Commesso. Here's a very good goalie and prospect - is his slow start a product of BU being terrible? Hopefully the temporary change of scenery gets him back on track as goalie depth is weak.

This team's makeup still reminds of the 2010 WJC roster which won gold. Chemistry is a big unknown as with any team but the only meaningful difference right now is Commesso isn't Campbell at this level, although he's typically good enough to win gold.
 
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William H Bonney said:
There's a tendency to declare teams like this one without superstar / flashy talent as weak but I'm not sure I agree with it. We've had plenty of WJC teams littered with superstar talent who crashed and burned despite being ballyhooed by all of us, USAH fans or not.

There's no doubt the forward group lacks a guy likely to carry the team a la Zegras but there's good depth and balance available, even if scoring will be more by committee. The defense should be incredibly strong and deep and the clear strength of the team and tournament. The biggest concern is Commesso. Here's a very good goalie and prospect - is his slow start a product of BU being terrible? Hopefully the temporary change of scenery gets him back on track as goalie depth is weak.

This team's makeup still reminds of the 2010 WJC roster which won gold. Chemistry is a big unknown as with any team but the only meaningful difference right now is Commesso isn't Campbell at this level, although he's typically good enough to win gold.
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Perreault was a huge add in terms of star level production for the US, if this was last year it would have been helpful maybe but not necessary. But he may very well be the top producer for the US this year. He will round out the top 6 nicely with others such as Beniers, Bordeleau, and Coronato. Like you said the team lacks “flash” but it should be well rounded. And when push comes to shove I’m sure we will see a number of “flashy” plays come out of them over the tournament.

In conclusion I already know alot of Canadian fans will laugh this team off and brag about how Shane Wright and Kent Johnson are 4th liners on their team or what not. But think just how much comedic potential there will be if the US wins and Perreault gets MVP, that is truly the ideal timeline. That may honestly result in a bigger meltdown than last years barrel!
 
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Knies - Bordeleau - Perreault
Mazur (Lucius/Dickinson/Smilanic) - Beniers - Coronato
Pastujov - Dickinson (Lucius/Smilanic/Peterson) - Doan
Berard - Slaggert - Smilanic (Boucher/Mackie/Peterson)
Extras: Peterson/Lucius/Smilanic/Dickinson - Versatile...Can play center and winger or if they take a few of these guys in the starting lineup they could look at Boucher/Mackie...

Sanderson - Hughes
Kleven - Morrow
Behrens - Faber
Truscott - Powell

Commesso
Tynan
Holt

Dickinson is tearing it up in the OHL and this team needs playmakers to facilitate other than Bordeleau.

Mazur is a pure scorer with 7 goals in 12 games at Denver...The Beniers line would also look great moving Coronato to the LW and moving Mackie to the RW as the facilitator or Dickinson to the LW if they want to play someone else at center on the 3/4th line.

Alternate lineup:

Knies - Bordeleau - Perreault
Dickinson - Beniers - Coronato
Pastujov - Smilanic - Mackie
Berard - Slaggert - Doan
Lucius

Sanderson - Hughes
Kleven - Faber
Truscott - Morrow
Behrens

This lineup would be very tough to play against...Let me know what y'all think!
 
Rabid Ranger said:
Where there's smoke there's fire where Ryan Tverberg is concerned. I expect him on the team.
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Unfortunately, he is not eligible after all. Crappy rule in my opinion, but he does not have two full seasons in the States so it is not happening. It looks like both parties were interested.
 
Pavel Buchnevich said:
The problem for Holt is that USA Hockey has shown that they don't pick CHL players on the margins. Either you are clearly good enough or you don't get picked. CHL players are rarely picked for one of the last spots. Someone above mentioned Skinner, but that's actually exactly what I'm talking about. Skinner was only on the team because of the COVID rules. He probably deserved to be the 7th or at least 8th defenseman on merit, but wasn't. He was the 9th defenseman on a team that would've taken 7 without the COVID rules. He was better than multiple NCAA players at the end of the roster, but didn't get a spot over them, almost certainly due to the league he was playing in.

Hockey Canada does the same thing. They rarely will pick an NCAA or USHL player on the margins. They will only pick that player, unless it'd be crazy to leave them off. It's understandable why these organizations do this. They want to promote a product that they have a significant stake in. Maybe this year and the new few will be different, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Specifically with Holt, he was the 3rd goalie last year at the WJC18 behind two goalies that are the same age as him. I would think that Mbereko and Homer are considered by USAH as above him. You or I might quibble with that, but they probably won't. Then there are the 2004 age group guys. There's a good chance both of them will be considered as above a marginal 2003 CHL guy just based on their spot with the NTDP. I also think it's quite likely that Silverstein is a lot better than any of these goalies, so that should also play a part. I suspect he'll be the starter pretty easily next year, and might even get a spot this year.

I should've said NCAA and USHL though, as its true that none of these guys between Mbereko, Homer, Silverstein, and Muszelik are yet playing NCAA. The four NTDP goalies though between the U19 and U20 age groups is always a good place to start for the goalie candidates. CHL guys really need to stand out, not just be a marginal upgrade. Noah Grannan as the second 2002 NTDP goalie probably is also another option under consideration for this year. I would guess that Tynan is the back up this year just because he has a decent track record in the CHL prior to this season, although this year has been a slight struggle. The third goalie will probably be a younger goalie, but I think Mbereko probably has the early advantage as the 2003 NTDP #1 goalie. If anyone else has a chance, maybe its Silverstein, but his biggest obstacles are staying fit and that they don't like picking 17 year olds.
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I liked Silverstein the one game I saw him play at the USHL Fall Classic. What's his ceiling? First rounder?
 
Herb Brooksie said:
Knies - Bordeleau - Perreault
Mazur (Lucius/Dickinson/Smilanic) - Beniers - Coronato
Pastujov - Dickinson (Lucius/Smilanic/Peterson) - Doan
Berard - Slaggert - Smilanic (Boucher/Mackie/Peterson)
Extras: Peterson/Lucius/Smilanic/Dickinson - Versatile...Can play center and winger or if they take a few of these guys in the starting lineup they could look at Boucher/Mackie...

Sanderson - Hughes
Kleven - Morrow
Behrens - Faber
Truscott - Powell

Commesso
Tynan
Holt

Dickinson is tearing it up in the OHL and this team needs playmakers to facilitate other than Bordeleau.

Mazur is a pure scorer with 7 goals in 12 games at Denver...The Beniers line would also look great moving Coronato to the LW and moving Mackie to the RW as the facilitator or Dickinson to the LW if they want to play someone else at center on the 3/4th line.

Alternate lineup:

Knies - Bordeleau - Perreault
Dickinson - Beniers - Coronato
Pastujov - Smilanic - Mackie
Berard - Slaggert - Doan
Lucius

Sanderson - Hughes
Kleven - Faber
Truscott - Morrow
Behrens

This lineup would be very tough to play against...Let me know what y'all think!
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I think you are putting too much into early season numbers. Lucius was a first round pick for a reason. I’d be upset if he was left off for marginal prospects that happen to have better counting stats over a three month span.

And we’ve been through this with Samoskevich before. He was being ranked in the 2nd-4th rounds prior to his draft year because he had lower counting stats on that great Steel team where he played too little. He’s barely top six this season at Michigan with all their talent. He might even be like 7th. His numbers were never going to look great this year, but he may be the most talented offensive player we have this year. He’s got to play. It could look like one of those Kyle Connor situations in five years where guys without Wikipedia pages were on the team instead of one of the NHL’s best wingers.
 
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Happy Thanksgiving! I completely agree! Where do you think Mackie would fit in best?

I am getting too hung up on line combos...which is a total waste of time LOL...so I am just going to put out a 25 man roster that you should like based on our correspondence...Let me know what you think!

C1A - 1) Beniers - Two-way goal scorer
C1B - 2) Bordeleau - Playmaker that is also a sniper
C3 - 3) Dickinson / 4) Lucius - These guys can also play LW...Dickinson is a speedy playmaker that is good in the dot and Lucius is a pure sniper...
C4 - 5) Slaggert - They also played him on the LW at camp (Yoder/Savage?) Yoder plays at Providence with the coach...they seemed to like Savage at camp...
13) Smilanic and 14) Peterson played on the wing at camp, but also play center

LWers - 6) Pastujov - Pure sniper - goal/game in OHL
7) Knies - Big bodied goal scorer
8) Berard - Speed two-way winger with some goal scoring pop
Mazur??? - Putting up big #s at Denver

RWers - 9) Perreault - Pure sniper - lighting up the AHL
10) Coronato - Balanced scorer
11) Mackie - Speedy well-rounded winger
12) Doan - Big bodied winger

15) Sanderson - 16) Hughes
17) Kleven - 18) Morrow
19) Behrens - 20) Faber
21) Truscott - 22) Moore
Kaiser, Kelley and Powell??? - They all seem solid too...Kaiser is a lefty the other two righties

23) Commesso
24) Tynan
25) Holt??? A few USHL/NTDP guys come to mind here too as we discussed...Maybe Silverstein?

Let me know what you think!
 
@Pavel Buchnevich what do you think of these lineups? Sorry I have been bored with it being too cold to golf LOL

Stacking first line and moving a stud playmaker to LW like they did with Zegras last year...

Bordeleau - Beniers - Perreault
Pastujov - Lucius - Coronato
Knies - Dickinson - Mackie
Berard - Slaggert - Doan
Peterson/Smilanic

If you move Bordeleau back to center:

Pastujov - Bordeleau - Perreault
Dickinson - Beniers - Coronato
Knies - Lucius - Mackie
Berard - Slaggert - Doan
Peterson/Smilanic

D: Lefties seem to be much stronger..

Sanderson - Morrow
Hughes - Faber
Kleven - Moore
Extra LD - Kaiser, Truscott or Behrens? Maybe Truscott here due to his familiarity with Hughes?
Extra RD - Kelley, Powell or Ufko?

If you play Hughes on the right:

Sanderson - Hughes
Kleven - Faber
Behrens - Morrow
The extra dressed would most likely have to be a RD - Moore, Kelley, Powell or Ufko?

I am a bit worried about our goaltending right now...

Commesso - He is really struggling right now...
Tynan
Chase Clark? Drafted by my Caps last year and playing solid in the USHL
Gibson Homer?
Dylan Silverstein?
Braden Holt?
Kaidan Mberko?

Shortage of natural right wingers..

Guentzel - Matthews - Kane
Connor - Hughes/Eichel - Terry
Gaudreau - Larkin - M. Tkachuk
B. Tkachuk - Miller - Oshie
Pavelski/Trochek

Bubble:
LW: Patches, Kreider, Dcat, Zegras, Copp, Robertson
C: Nelson, Zegras, Coyle, Norris, Copp, Wheeler
RW: Boeser, Coyle, Garland, Atkinson, Rust, Wheeler, Hartman

D: Right side is much stronger

Slavin - Fox
McD - McAvoy
Werenski - Jones
Hughes - Pesce

Bubble:
RD: Carlson, Petry, Trouba
LD: Krug, Suter, Martinez

HBuck
Gibson
Campbell

Bubble:
Quick, Demko, Nedeljkovic

@Pavel Buchnevich what are your thoughts? who would you add/subtract? what would your lineups be? Let me know what you think!
 
I think there are some options.

Forwards: The line I’m pretty sure of that I like is Berard-Slaggert-Doan as the fourth line. And if they play better than other lines, they play more. I like that combination though for a grinding/shutdown line.

Aside from that, I think Beniers and Bordeleau are going to be the top two centers. Third center should be Smilanic. It’s then about finding combinations. I would probably try to pair Lucius with his Minnesota teammate Knies or former NTDP linemate Pastujov. I’d likely start with the latter combo either side of Smilanic. Then you probably want Knies with Bordeleau for size reasons. Samoskevich and Bordeleau have paired well recently as linemates, but it might make more sense to put him with his former teammate and at times linemate Coronato with Beniers as the center. I’d probably opt for the latter option. Perreault takes the other spot with Knies and Bordeleau. Last spot I’d like to have Boucher due to the different elements he brings that others don’t. If not, Broz could be a Swiss Army knife style 13F.

Samoskevich-Beniers-Coronato
Knies-Bordeleau-Perreault
Pastujov-Smilanic-Lucius
Berard-Slaggert-Doan
Boucher/Broz

Defense: I would try to keep the former NTDP pairings together with Sanderson-Powell and Kleven-Faber. Hughes should be on the third pairing with either Kaiser or Morrow. If Hughes performs incredibly well, then you break up the top four and move him into it. For now, I’d be cautious of believing he needs to start in the top four. This is notoriously a 19 year old tournament. Almost all 18 year old defensemen we’ve had at this tournament haven’t been among our best players.

Sanderson-Powell
Kleven-Faber
Kaiser-Hughes
Morrow

Goalies: Commesso has struggled, but his team is bad and he’s been good in prior years. I wouldn’t be too concerned about him. He has to start. Tynan’s prior pedigree probably gives him the backup spot. I’d probably pick Silverstein for third, but Mbereko also could be selected.
 
Last edited:
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Pavel Buchnevich said:
I think there are some options.

Forwards: The line I’m pretty sure of that I like is Berard-Slaggert-Doan as the fourth line. And if they play better than other lines, they play more. I like that combination though for a grinding/shutdown line.

Aside from that, I think Beniers and Bordeleau are going to be the top two centers. Third center should be Smilanic. It’s then about finding combinations. I would probably try to pair Lucius with his Minnesota teammate Knies or former NTDP linemate Pastujov. I’d likely start with the latter combo either side of Smilanic. Then you probably want Knies with Bordeleau for size reasons. Samoskevich and Bordeleau have paired well recently as linemates, but it might make more sense to put him with his former teammate and at times linemate Coronato with Beniers as the center. I’d probably opt for the latter option. Perreault takes the other spot with Knies and Bordeleau. Last spot I’d like to have Boucher due to the different elements he brings that others don’t. If not, Broz could be a Swiss Army knife style 13F.

Samoskevich-Beniers-Coronato
Knies-Bordeleau-Perreault
Pastujov-Smilanic-Lucius
Berard-Slaggert-Doan
Boucher/Broz

Defense: I would try to keep the former NTDP pairings together with Sanderson-Powell and Kleven-Faber. Hughes should be on the third pairing with either Kaiser or Morrow. If Hughes performs incredibly well, then you break up the top four and move him into it. For now, I’d be cautious of believing he needs to start in the top four. This is notoriously a 19 year old tournament. Almost all 18 year old defensemen we’ve had at this tournament haven’t been among our best players.

Sanderson-Powell
Kleven-Faber
Kaiser-Hughes
Morrow

Goalies: Commesso has struggled, but his team is bad and he’s been good in prior years. I wouldn’t be too concerned about him. He has to start. Tynan’s prior pedigree probably gives him the backup spot. I’d probably pick Silverstein for third, but Mbereko also could be selected.
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I love it and completely agree! How open do you think they are to playing wingers and d on their off sides? Which guys are best at this in your opinion?
 
Herb Brooksie said:
I love it and completely agree! How open do you think they are to playing wingers and d on their off sides? Which guys are best at this in your opinion?
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I see a lot of flexibility. I think on defense Hughes is the one among the lefties that will play the right side, if needed. He’s played the right side a lot in recent years.

With the wingers, I also see a lot of flexibility. I don’t see any players that couldn’t play right or left. The one player I’d like to keep on one side is Samoskevich. I think his game is better on the left side being able to cut inside to the right, like Panarin/Marner/Raymond do. He could play the right though.
 
He'd probably have to beat out a guy like Slaggert, which would be a tough ask considering Slaggert made the team last year, but Logan Cooley has really turned it on with the U18's the last couple weeks. (Also doesn't have the edge that a guy like Beniers had with already playing consistently against college competition, with being a late birthday)

Will be interesting to see if he gets a look in camp.
 
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No Perreault?

Cooley the only '22 skater to get an invite. Not many surprises otherwise.
 
Damn, very disappointing to not see Perrault, maybe couldn't get his passport in time. Creates a pretty big hole again.
 
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